Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dye - Sunset Orange 59ml (2 fl.oz)

Add bright, vibrant colour to your stabilising resin! These Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dyes are designed specifically for use with Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin. The 100% liquid dyes will not settle over time and will help you achieve some of the really bright colours that are just not possible to be achieved with Alumilite Dyes. Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dyes are not meant to replace Alumilite Dyes but are mainly to fill in the gaps where Alumilite Dyes can fall short.

PLEASE NOTE: CACTUS JUICE STABILIZING DYE IS ONLY FOR USE WITH STABILIZING RESIN!! IT WILL NOT WORK WITH CASTING RESINS SUCH AS ALUMILITE, POLYESTER, AND EPOXY.

Cactus Juice can be dyed when you want to add some colour to the material you are stabilising. For this discussion I will assume wood but the same principles work with any porous material. The best success will be obtained with either Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dyes or Alumilite Dyes. They are both very concentrated and produce nice, vivid colours that mix and work well with Cactus Juice. Some powdered dyes can work as well but typically have a hard time dissolving thoroughly, leaving a residue in the bottom of the mixing container and on the blanks, sometimes preventing proper uptake of the resin. Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dyes and Alumilite dyes will not affect the cure of the Juice since they are specifically made for use in plastic resins. Be sure to use more dye than you think you need!

There is no formula available to give consistent results from wood to wood. This is due to the way different species and even different pieces of wood within the same log take the dyed Cactus Juice. It is all a matter of trial and error! Stabilising itself is a science while dying and stabilising is an art!

MIXING INSTRUCTIONS:

Turntex themselves recommend starting out with a ratio of 1oz per gallon of Cactus Juice. Add the dye to the Cactus Juice in a jug and shake vigorously. Then run a sample batch with the wood you plan to do to completion. After cured, cut in half lengthwise to see what the colour inside looks like. If it is too dark, add clear Cactus Juice to your mix. If it is not dark enough, add more dye. Just keep in mind that it takes a LOT more dye than you think to get good colour in most woods.

Hard woods will require more dye than soft woods. Wood colour will also have an effect on the final product.

Who is TurnTex Woodworks? Curtis and TurnTex is the leading authority and a pioneer in the field of stabilising and casting and has been at the forefront of this industry with the following innovations:

Cactus Juice Stabilizing Solutions - The first to offer affordable DIY stabilising resin and dedicated vacuum chambers for all types of stabilising needs.

Alumilite Casting Resin - The first to start using Alumilite Casting Resins for woodturning and helped make it a mainstream casting product.

Alumilite Clear Casting Resin - This formulation of Alumilite Casting Resin is based on my needs and feedback to the owner of The Alumilite Corporation. I did all of the initial testing to develop the current product including testing 7 different versions until the properties that are important to woodworkers were achieved. (Metal Clay Ltd are also the UK stockist for Alumilite Clear Casting Resin)

Worthless Wood - Otherwise commonly referred to as hybrid blanks, is the technique of casting wood and resin combinations to form a unique, hybrid blank. This technique was originally created by me in 2006 and shared with the woodturning community through an article I wrote entitled "Worthless Wood - Salvaging Otherwise Worthless Wood with Pressure Casting". This technique has been used by thousands of craftspeople around the world since that original article.